Shannon Stepper treasures the beauty of her weekly bike rides on Mount Diablo. “There’s nothing like it,” she said. “It’s one of the great things about living where we live.”

However, the 39-year-old mother of two is very mindful of the dangers of the descent. That’s why she moved far to the right as she approached a blind curve on North Gate Road last weekend.

“It didn’t matter because the moment I came around that turn there was a vehicle in my lane,” she recalled. It was coming uphill — right at her. “There was this split second, that ‘oh, my God, I’m going to be hit.’ Then I don’t remember. I was out.”

It was the second of three such accidents since mid-August. Indeed, from 2010 to 2014, there were at least 20 collisions in which cars on the wrong side of the road hit cyclists, according to data compiled by Al Kalin, a rider on a mission to make the mountain safer.

And there were countless near-misses. Cyclists climbing the mountain are frequently passed by motorists who cannot see around a bend ahead — and are oblivious to the descending bike or car that might be coming the other way.

After hounding by Kalin, state Sen. Steve Glazer, Assemblywoman Catharine Baker and this editorial page, state officials have apparently finally gotten the message. Dana Jones, northern division chief for California State Parks, said Wednesday that her agency had found money for a safety study, new signs and the painting of double-yellow center lines that, amazingly, are missing on the mountain’s roads.

It’s a welcome reversal from the foot-dragging just a few months ago. How quickly the agency acts remains to be seen, but spokeswoman Gloria Sandoval said that, “We understand there’s an urgent need.”

It’s too late for Stepper, a Walnut Creek resident and personnel manager for software developers, who was struck by the left side of that oncoming car. Her shoulder blade and collarbone were broken. She will undergo surgery on the latter next week.

It’s also too late for Victor Lorenc, a 55-year-old investment adviser from Danville who estimates he’s ridden on the mountain more than 2,000 times since 2001.

On descents, he says, “I’m always careful about those turns. I always control my speed very well and make sure that I stay as far to the right-hand side of my lane as possible.”

That didn’t save him on Aug. 22. He remembers hearing a vehicle accelerate just as he reached a curve while descending South Gate Road. “And then, boom! The car was all the way in my lane. My bike wheel hit the front left headlight. I smashed the windshield and then flew over the back of the car and smashed on the pavement.”

He sustained four broken ribs, and a bruised lung, broken collarbone, sprained knee, broken shin bone as well as compound fractures of his right wrist. Doctors have operated on his collarbone and three times on his wrist, which now has metal plates. He’s in constant pain and he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to return to work.

The Ford Mustang had been passing an ascending cyclist. Lorenc remembers the 25-year-old driver standing over him. “She was sobbing, saying, ‘What have I done, what have I done.’ “

Drivers often lack awareness of the dangers of Mount Diablo roads. Rangers have recently started handing out safety fliers with park brochures when motorists pay to enter. And they’re supposed to verbally warn drivers against passing on blind curves.

But spot checks last week found no verbal warnings. As for the fliers, one was sitting on the passenger seat of the car that struck Stepper, according to Kalin, who arrived at the scene minutes after the accident. Expecting motorists will read literature while driving is unrealistic.

Passengers in the car told him this was their first time in the park and that they hadn’t received any verbal cautions at the entrance.

That must immediately change. Rangers must provide unambiguous admonitions to every driver. Prominent warning signs must be installed. And roads must be properly striped.

There’s already too much blood on the hands of lax park officials. If they don’t move quickly, there will be more.

Dan Borenstein is an award-winning columnist for the Bay Area News Group and editorial page editor of the East Bay Times. He has worked for the Times and its affiliated newspapers since 1980, including previous assignments as political editor, Sacramento bureau editor, projects editor and assistant metro editor. A Bay Area native, he holds master’s degrees in public policy and journalism from University of California, Berkeley.

A Kia Sportage drove into the back of a Mercedes Sprinter just before 9 a.m. on southbound I-680 before the S. Main Street exit, causing chemicals inside the Sprinter to spill within that vehicle, the California Highway Patrol said.